The public first became aware of a
vacancy for the CSA at the MOD via an advert in the
TIMES on the 26th Feb 2004, one posted in NATURE the next day, and
one in the SUNDAY TIMES on the 29th Feb 2004.

Applications closed on the 19th Mar
2004. The Press Release
advising the public that Prof Roy Anderson was the new
CSA at the MOD was issued on the 18th Jul 2004.

I received a letter from, "The Office of
the Civil Service Commissioners" after I enquired if their selection
procedures were activated for the CSA post - as I was
not happy that somebody who fed the government (and
public) with FMD models in 2001 that proved to be unadulterated garbage and
were instrumental in the, "carnage by computer" was now going to play
any part in MOD affairs!

The "competition" was Chaired by Baroness Usha
Prasha CBE.

Ninth Report of the Committee on Standards in Public Life - April
2003

1513.

Baroness Prashar: Let
me tell you, I have only had experience of being the First Commissioner for the
last two years and I have to say that the way I got appointed has not really
affected the independence, or the way in which we have operated. But I think if
you wanted to make it an issue which everybody else took an interest in, then
whereas at the moment after competition the person is approved by Prime Minister and then recommended, after checking with Scotland and
Wales, it could in future be cleared with the opposition leaders as well so that
they all felt they were satisfied with the appointment of the First Commissioner
and the other part time commissioners. So, that would, I think, mean that they
all took interest in it.

1523. Now, like
you said, we also had discussions with the private sector and what they said was
that they invest a lot of time if they want somebody from the outside, and it
can take sometimes up to six
months. So, compared to what happens elsewhere, I do
not think eight to ten weeks is a very long time. The other
thing, to say is that speed does not necessarily
mean that you get the right person. Because in my experience if
you rush an appointment, if you do not give enough
time in terms of advertising and so on and so forth, then
you do not get the right people. So, I think
sometimes hasty decisions can, in the long run, be negative. But that is not to
say that we do not do everything in our power to make sure that competitions
take a short time. But I think you have to balance between getting the right
person for the job and speed.

-----------------------

If you ask me, placing one-off
adverts in the TIMES and one in a magazine called NATURE,
and then the blank space until applications closed after 23 days
is a bit blinkered, fast, and short run.